Products Liability in the United States Issues for Dutch Companies

Transcription

1 Products Liability in the United States Issues for Dutch Companies

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction... 1 II. The Basics... 2 A. What is products liability?... 2 B. For what reasons can a company be sued in products liability?... 2 C. Who can sue for a products liability claim?... 4 D. Who can be sued in products liability?... 5 E. Where can a Dutch company be sued?... 6 F. What law will be applied to a Dutch company?... 6 G. What sort of damages may a company have to pay if found liable?... 7 H. What else is different about the U.S. judicial system?... 8 III. How Can a Dutch Company Limit Its Risk? A. Product safety review B. Management commitment C. Product design process D. Manufacturing process E. Warnings and instructions F. Post-sale phase G. Document and word control H. Uses of the safety review I. Pre-acquisition reviews J. Insurance IV. Our Company Has Been Sued. Now What? A. Initial steps B. What does the plaintiff have to prove? C. How will plaintiff prove these elements of his case? D. How can a company defend itself? E. What about settlement? V. Special Issues Related to Dutch Companies VI. Trends in Product Liability in the U.S A. Tort reform B. Restrictions on class actions C. Excluding junk science from the courtroom D. ediscovery E. Preemption VII. Further Information VIII. About Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP and the Authors A. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP B. Authors Page

3 I. Introduction When Dutch business people think of uninviting aspects of the otherwise hospitable U.S. market place, they likely think of America s incredible penchant for products liability litigation. They think of stories they have heard of a lawsuit resulting in a multi-million dollar award for a spilled cup of hot coffee. They think of massive class actions that can result in companies paying billions of dollars. They think of litigation that goes on for decades. What they are thinking of is an area of law known as products liability, which is the litigation of potential safety issues from all kinds of products. Products liability is an important part of doing business in the United States. A company must be realistic about the unique risks it can face from product liability lawsuits in the United States and plan accordingly. On the other hand, business goes on every day in the United States despite the reality that lawsuits and potentially large verdicts are a fact of life. Dutch companies can appreciate the risk without letting the fear of such lawsuits prevent them from taking advantage of the substantial opportunities that the U.S. market offers. This booklet is designed to help Dutch companies do just that by putting them on the path to a better understanding of products liability law and providing some guidance on how to limit that liability. The booklet does not attempt to address all issues, and necessarily simplifies those issues it does address. It cannot be taken as a statement of the law in any particular U.S. jurisdiction, and cannot substitute for legal advice from an attorney. But our hope is that there is enough in the pages that follow to help Dutch businesses begin to ask the right questions and better evaluate how to start preparing to do business in the United States. Section J of Chapter II is primarily based on information obtained from the insurance companies and brokers listed on Chapter VII. We gratefully acknowledge their assistance.

4 II. The Basics A. What is products liability? Products liability is the area of law governing injuries caused by products. The fruits of manufacturing drugs, machines, cars, computers, toys, beds, food, and so on are known in the law as products. When a person is injured as the result of using a product, he or she may sue to recover money to compensate for the injury. This area of law is known as products liability. Products liability is an important area of law in the U.S. and a crucial area to understand for anyone doing business there. Although much of Europe has products liability law that shares much in common with U.S. products liability law, certain key differences like juries, high damage awards and contingency fees can make U.S. products liability law intimidating for Dutch companies. Many Dutch business people have heard stories of lawsuits that result in companies having to pay multi-million dollar awards for seemingly trivial injuries. Some of these stories are true, but companies can do many things to limit their risk. Products/service distinction Products liability law applies to lawsuits alleging that a product caused an injury. Businesses that are principally providing services are not subject to strict liability under products liability law. For instance, hospitals and doctors are not subject to strict liability law for a defective drug or device used in the treatment of a patient. It is a service that the hospital and doctor are providing. They can only be liable if they did not exercise the level of care of a reasonable hospital or physician. This is called negligence. Strict liability means that the manufacturer is liable for injuries caused by a defective product regardless of whether the defect was the result of negligence. B. For what reasons can a company be sued in products liability? When a defective product causes harm, the injured person may have a right to sue. There are three kinds of defect: manufacturing defects, design defects and failure to warn. An injured person may also sue a company on the theory that the company s negligence caused the injury. Manufacturing defect A defect in a product that is the result of faulty manufacturing is called a manufacturing defect. An example of a manufacturing defect is, if a manufacturer produces drugs and inadvertently contaminates a batch of the drug with a toxic foreign substance. Design defect A defect in the design of a product is called a design defect. As explained below, there are a number of different tests for what counts as a defective design. In general, fault or lack of care in designing the product is not important in determining whether a product has a design defect. The manufacturer is expected to design out of the product all of the safety risk that it is feasible to eliminate by design. For example, if a car is designed with a bolt right behind the gas tank so that if the car is struck from behind the bolt will penetrate the gas tank and cause an explosion: that is a design defect. Failure to warn A product manufacturer has the legal duty in the U.S. to provide a warning regarding all risks of injury associated with the foreseeable use and misuse of the product. Some risks are inherent in 2

5 the design of certain products. Such a product can be made nondefective from a legal point of view by providing an adequate warning. For instance, most drugs have side effects. No amount of care in the design or manufacture of drugs will change that. If, however, consumers are given adequate warnings about the side effects, the product will not be considered defective. Products liability is not the only theory under which a company may be sued. Some other theories are listed below. Negligence An injured person may also sue a company on the theory that the company s negligence caused the injury. Negligence is the failure to follow the ordinary standard of care that a reasonable person or company would follow in safeguarding product users from injury. Express/Implied Warranty A warranty is a promise that a fact is true. It is a term of the contract to buy a product. Express warranties may be contained in literature that accompanies the product or statements made by the manufacturer s marketing and sales force. Implied warranties are promises the law implies as part of every contract. Essentially, the court acts as if every manufacturer promises two distinct things. First, there is an implied promise that a product will do what it was made to do a knife will cut, an oven will cook and so on. Second, there is an implied promise that a product will meet certain ordinary purposes for such good. This broader promise is called the warranty of merchantability and includes the idea that a product would not be unreasonably safe. The whole field of products liability law grew out of this original idea that every sale involves a promise that the good being purchased would be reasonably safe. Today, many states have eliminated the idea of this implied warranty and replaced it with statutes that spell out products liability law. However, the concept still exists in some states. Whether the lawsuit is brought under this notion of an implied warranty of merchantability or under a statute, the plaintiff still must allege that the product was defective in one of the three ways listed above. Consumer Fraud There has been a recent trend to sue under various state consumer protection statutes. These statutes make it unlawful to engage in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of trade or commerce. Plaintiffs have used these statutes to bring class actions claiming that a product was deceptively marketed in violation of the statute either because it was affirmatively marketed as safe when it had an allegedly undisclosed risk or the marketing omitted risk information that misled consumers into believing the product was safer than it actually was. Some statutes lower the traditional requirements of fraud, allowing plaintiffs to bring claims even where they cannot prove an intentional deception or that the plaintiff relied on false representations from the manufacturer. These consumer fraud claims typically seek only the return of the purchase price. For this reason they are pursued collectively for all purchasers in the form of class actions. These claims are easy to allege but difficult to prove. A full discussion of the consumer protection statutes of all 50 states is beyond the scope of this booklet. Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is a federal statute. Federal statutes are laws of the government of the United States, as opposed to most of the laws we are discussing, which are laws of one of the fifty individual states. The Act imposes certain requirements on a manufacturer who issues a full warranty for its product. In general, these requirements are designed to prevent any attempt by the manufacturer to use express warranties to restrict its liability to consumers unless the warranty is written in a way that is clear to regular consumers and makes the restriction of liability apparent on its face. For instance, it forbids the limitation of consequential damages for breach of an express or implied warranty unless the limitation conspicuously appears on the face of the warranty. A full discussion of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is beyond the scope of this booklet. 3

6 Medical Monitoring Some jurisdictions permit persons who have been exposed to a product, but have suffered no physical injury, to sue for medical monitoring for injuries which may develop. Most such theories of medical monitoring are based on the decision Bower v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 206 W. Va. 133, 206 W. Va. 133 (1999). Under Bower, a plaintiff must prove that: (1) he or she has been significantly exposed; (2) to a proven hazardous substance; (3) through the tortious conduct of the defendant; (4) as a proximate result of the exposure, plaintiff has suffered an increased risk of contracting a serious latent disease relative to the general population; (5) the increased risk of disease makes it reasonably necessary for the plaintiff to undergo periodic diagnostic medical examinations different from what would be prescribed in the absence of the exposure; and (6) monitoring procedures exist that make the early detection of a disease possible. Medical monitoring claims are being brought increasingly in circumstances where there is (1) some unfavorable scientific evidence that a product poses a risk to human health (often just in animal studies) but the question is unsettled and (2) where the injuries themselves, like cancer, may take years to manifest. Plaintiffs typically claim in such circumstances that their exposure to the product entitles them to money for doctor visits and testing to catch early any developing, product-related injuries. Depending in large part on the jurisdiction in which the case is brought, medical monitoring claims often can be defeated through aggressive discovery and sound legal argument. C. Who can sue for a products liability claim? The injured product user The person who used the product and suffered an injury has the right to sue. The injured bystander A product may be alleged to have injured not the user but some innocent bystander, as when a car runs a red light and hits a pedestrian because of faulty brakes. The pedestrian can sue the car manufacturer even though he did not purchase the car. The spouse The husband or wife of the injured product user can also sue for the harm he or she suffered as the result of having an injured spouse. The spouse sues for his or her loss of consortium, meaning the loss of the injured spouse s normal support, love and sexual relations. The children In most states, the children of the injured product user can also sue for the harm they suffered as a result of having an injured parent. Parents are expected to provide emotional support to children. Children can claim that they have been damaged in losing this support. The estate When a product user dies as the result of using a product, the estate of that person can sue. The estate can seek recovery for the income that the deceased would have earned if not for his untimely death, for the deceased s pain and suffering prior to death, for the deceased medical expenses, and, in some states, the funeral expenses. 4

7 D. Who can be sued in products liability? Anyone in the chain of distribution Everyone in the chain of distribution can be sued for the full amount of damages; from the manufacturer, to the retailer who sold the product, to the end user. This rule was meant to protect injured parties by allowing the plaintiff to sue the person who sold him the product and put the burden on those defendants to find the ultimate manufacturer. Parent companies, sometimes A parent of a subsidiary that sells or manufactures a product cannot be sued in products liability for suits arising from the use of the subsidiary s products. However, if the plaintiff can show that the parent and subsidiary are really a single business entity, or that the parent played a role in the design, manufacture, or marketing of the product, then the plaintiff sometimes can proceed against the parent. Ultimately, the wrongdoer is to pay However, just because the product distributor and retailer can usually be sued does not mean that they are ultimately responsible even though they may end up paying some or all of the damages. Ultimately, it is only the wrongdoer, the party that caused the injury, that is responsible. Indemnification Indemnification is the legal right of retailers and distributors to make the manufacturer pay for any damage the defective product caused. In other words, if a customer claims to be injured by a product and sues the retailer who sold it to him, the retailer can in turn sue the manufacturer and recover whatever damages the retailer has had to pay. Contribution The defendant has a claim for contribution against other parties who may have contributed to the injury. For example, suppose a consumer sues a tire manufacturer claiming that she was injured when her car overturned as the result of a tire blowout. The tire manufacturer claims that the car was defectively designed because a blowout at the speed the plaintiff was driving should not have resulted in a loss of control of the car. On this theory, that the car s defective design was partly responsible for the injuries, the tire manufacturer can sue the car manufacturer for contribution. A jury will then have to decide what portion of the plaintiff s injuries was due to the defective tire and what portion was due to the defective design of the car. In many jurisdictions settlement extinguishes the right of contribution. Joint and several liability The rule of joint and several liability holds that the plaintiff can get the full award of his damages from any defendant found liable. In other words, suppose a plaintiff who is injured in a car crash sues the drunk driver who caused the accident as well as the car manufacturer claiming his injuries were made worse by defective brakes. If the jury returns a $1 million verdict finding that the drunk driver was 90% responsible for the accident and the car manufacturer was 10% responsible, under joint and several liability the plaintiff can recover the total amount from the manufacturer. The manufacturer then has the right to attempt to recover 90% from the drunk driver. Many states have eliminated joint and several liability in some situations, such as where the defendant is less than 50% at fault. 5

8 E. Where can a Dutch company be sued? The plaintiff can bring a suit in any court he chooses; however, the suit may be dismissed or moved to another court depending on a number of factors. Jurisdiction Jurisdiction is the right of a court to hear a claim. Just because a plaintiff has sued in a particular court does not mean that the court has the right to consider the case. Generally, if a Dutch company plans to have its products enter the U.S. market as a whole or a particular state s market and those products cause injuries in that state, then the courts of that state will have jurisdiction to hear the case. However, a product that merely ends up in a state without any such plan is usually not enough to give the courts of that state power over the Dutch company. Venue Venue is the place within a jurisdiction where a suit is filed. Courts have rules to determine if a venue is appropriate. Often in products liability cases the choice of venue is as critical as any decision made in the case. The enormous verdicts that make headlines and generate concern are frequently the product of a handful of courts that are viewed as plaintiff friendly. In some instances, plaintiffs improperly bring their cases in these courts. Since choice of venue may have a large effect on the ultimate outcome of the lawsuit, it is important to carefully check rules of venue to see whether venue chosen by plaintiff is appropriate. Forum non conveniens Forum non conveniens means inconvenient forum. It is an important legal doctrine that, depending on the facts at hand, may provide a foreign company with a theory to seek dismissal of a lawsuit. Where the evidence and witnesses are not available in the state where the case will be tried and cannot be brought there without considerable expense, a court can dismiss for forum non conveniens. For example, a court could decide that the matter should be litigated in the Netherlands instead of the U.S. Removal jurisdiction Another important means by which a defendant may sometimes seek a more favorable forum is through a procedural device called removal. In the U.S., each state has it own courts. In addition, there is a system of federal courts. In some circumstances, a defendant who has been sued in a state court can have the case removed to federal court. Often federal courts are preferable to defendants. Defendants may feel that state court judges are overly sympathetic to plaintiff s attorneys. Also, state court rules of procedure or evidence may be unfavorable. One particularly important example discussed below is the typically higher standard federal courts apply to scientific evidence before allowing it to be presented to a jury. F. What law will be applied to a Dutch company? The law of the state where the alleged injury occurred, generally, will apply in products liability cases; however, there are complications. In the United States, there is no national law that covers products liability. Each state has its own law. Even if a case is tried in a federal court, the law of a particular state must be applied. Often, slight differences in the law between states can change the outcome of a case. Commonly, the law of the state where the injury occurred governs. 6

9 G. What sort of damages may a company have to pay if found liable? Compensatory damages Compensatory damages cover items like income lost because of the injury, reasonable healthcare costs, the cost of medical monitoring for future health problems related to the injury, past pain and suffering, and emotional distress. Dutch companies should be aware that damages for these items are generally substantially higher than the damages awarded by Dutch courts in similar matters. It is not rare for damage awards to be in the million dollar range for cases involving death and serious bodily injury. Punitive damages Punitive damages are meant to punish the defendant and provide a deterrent for future wrongful behavior. The enormous jury awards that have been reported in the media are often punitive damage awards. In many states, the plaintiff must prove malice, i.e., ill will, to receive punitive damages. There has been a recent trend in the courts to roll back excessive punitive damages awards. Collateral source rule Many states have a rule called the collateral source rule. Under this rule, evidence that a plaintiff has already been compensated for his injuries by a third party like an insurance company, cannot be admitted as evidence and the plaintiff s damage award cannot be reduced to offset the amount he already received. Under the collateral source rule, the manufacturer defendant cannot put in evidence the fact that plaintiff received compensation already from his insurance. The defendant will have to pay the plaintiff the full amount. However, the plaintiff s insurer may have a right to recover from the damage award. For example, a plaintiff s medical expenses may have been paid for by his insurance. How much can be awarded? The question of how much to award is usually decided by juries. Under U.S. law, the question of how much money will compensate the injured party is a question of fact. Juries decide questions of fact. A jury s determination of compensatory damages receives a great deal of deference from the trial judge and the appellate courts, making it less likely that these awards can be overturned. Because compensatory damages involve subjective questions like the monetary value of pain and suffering, these awards can be quite large. Punitive damages, on the other hand, are a question of law. The jury still determines the amount of punitive damages, but because of a recent series of Supreme Court decisions, courts must now review these awards more carefully and make sure that they are in reasonable proportion to the compensatory damage award. There have been a number of reform efforts to rein in large damages awards. However, compared to the Netherlands, damages awards are still very high. Multi-million dollar awards are not unusual. Although many cases result in substantially smaller verdicts and settlements, the chance of hitting it big with a jury is a major incentive for consumers and plaintiff s attorneys to bring products liability lawsuits. Is there any way to lower an excessively high damage award? Yes. A trial court or an appellate court can lower the amount the jury awarded. As mentioned above, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that punitive damage awards must be in reasonable proportion to the compensatory damages award. Although not entirely clear, it seems that any award for punitive damages that is more than ten times the size of the compensatory damage award will be found unreasonably high. 7

10 Trial judges and appellate courts usually have less discretion to reduce compensatory damage awards. But, there are a variety of ways to seek to have a compensatory damage award overturned or reduced. H. What else is different about the U.S. judicial system? Contingency fees In the United States, attorneys working for plaintiffs in product liability typically work on a contingency fee. Plaintiffs do not pay the attorney anything unless they receive an award or settlement; then they pay a percentage usually 20% to 40% to their attorney. In the Netherlands, this arrangement is sometimes referred to as a no cure, no pay arrangement. Loser does not pay In the United States, unlike in the Netherlands, a plaintiff who brings a lawsuit and loses will not have to bear any of the costs of the defendant. Jury In the United States, juries decide issues of fact, which are most of the issues in a lawsuit. Juries are composed of ordinary citizens. The size of juries can range from six to twelve members depending on the jurisdiction. The process of selecting juries also varies, but generally there is a process called voir dire which permits the parties to weed out jurors who are biased. In addition, in some courts the parties may have a limited right to eliminate a few jurors without having to show the juror had any bias. Discovery The discovery process is an important part of litigation in the U.S. and one that Dutch companies probably find most surprising. Once a lawsuit is started, each party may ask the other for any information (witnesses, documents, s, etc.) that may be relevant to the lawsuit and the other party is required to produce it. There are some limits to what a party may request, but the inclination of the judicial system in the U.S. is for full disclosure. In many lawsuits the parties can work out agreements about what each side reasonably needs in order to pursue the lawsuit. However, in products liability suits discovery can become very burdensome to the defendant. Since the plaintiff is an individual with few, if any, documents or information to disclose, he can seek massive discovery without fear of being subjected by the defendant to the same burden. Discovery of all of the documents, s and employees involved with a particular product can be enormously costly. Therefore, preparing to meet the challenge of discovery is one of the first steps a company must take after being sued. In fact, it must begin to prepare before any suit has been filed. Class Actions In the U.S., a person who purports to represent a whole class of persons who have been injured in the same way can bring a lawsuit on their behalf. This procedure, called a class action lawsuit, allows one individual or a small group to represent thousands or even millions of individuals. Before a class action may proceed, the plaintiff must meet a rather rigorous test. Class actions are particularly frightening to defendants because one verdict for a large class could result in damage awards of up to billions of dollars. 8

11 Consolidations and coordinations Claims of multiple plaintiffs can be brought in a single lawsuit or different lawsuits can be joined into a single lawsuit. This is sometimes called consolidation. Like a class action, in such a consolidated action there will be a single trial for the all of the claims. Defendants may oppose such consolidations because there are fundamental differences between each plaintiff s claims. In addition to consolidation, there are procedures in state and federal courts that permit the coordination of claims. Coordination procedures deal mainly with procedural aspects like discovery, evidence and various other motions. In the federal courts of the U.S., cases are coordinated in what is called a Multi-District Litigation court. This court handles all discovery and motions filed before trial. Then, the cases are returned to the courts where they were originally filed. In coordinated actions unlike class actions or consolidated actions, each lawsuit is treated separately for the ultimate determination at trial. Consolidations are designed to lower the expense of litigation. However, the practical effect is often to make it cheaper and more profitable for plaintiffs and their attorneys to bring suits. This, in turn, encourages even more litigation. There may be circumstances in which a defendant wants to have its litigation over a single product consolidated. However, this decision should be carefully considered. 9

12 III. How Can a Dutch Company Limit Its Risk? To limit a company s exposure to products liability suits in the U.S., a Dutch company must develop a plan that is aimed to address real safety concerns and also to prepare the company for litigation. In addition, a Dutch company should engage an insurance broker to obtain adequate insurance coverage. A. Product safety review The central feature of a product review safety program is a review that focuses on those aspects of a company s operations that are most likely to affect the safety of its products. These include: (1) The visible commitment of management to product safety; (2) The process by which the company s products are designed; (3) The company s and its suppliers manufacturing quality control programs; (4) The adequacy of the company s product warnings and instructions; (5) The adequacy of the company s accident reporting and investigation procedures; (6) The consistency of the company s product advertising promotion with its products performance and the warnings given by the company; and (7) The adequacy of its document control and retention policies. The following discussion summarizes the legal background underlying each of these topics and includes a suggested safety review (including appropriate checklists) that can be modified to meet the needs of a particular product or company. The purpose of the review is not to pass or fail a particular product or to certify that it will survive an attack in a product liability lawsuit. Rather, the emphasis is on the process by which safety concerns are addressed. The goal is to provide a framework for improving that process. B. Management commitment Legal background. In applying the modern-day remedy of strict products liability, courts often give lip service to the principle that strict liability focuses on the condition of the product not the conduct or fault of its manufacturer. Those who follow developments in the law of products liability know that this simple notion does not accurately reflect the extent to which fault and negligence principles still permeate many, if not most, products liability cases, including those based on strict liability. A plaintiff s attorney rarely will forego the opportunity to put a manufacturer and its management on trial, particularly when it is alleged that the product was not properly designed, or that the risk of harm was not adequately warned about, or when the plaintiff is seeking punitive damages. Fault as a basis for liability appeals to jurors, and a plaintiff is more likely to recover a substantial award if he can establish fault or a disregard of safety at the highest levels in the company. Visibility of management commitment. For this reason, an important aspect of any product safety program is a visible and well-documented commitment by management to promote product safety and to adopt company-wide, safety-related policies and procedures. A good way to achieve this goal is for management to distribute a policy statement to all employees that sets forth: the company s commitment to manufacture products that are safe and reliable; the name(s) of the person or persons responsible for implementing the policy; and the manner in which it will implemented. 10

13 Safety officer or safety committee. The policy statement usually designates a high company official to be responsible for product safety. In larger companies it often may also designate a product safety committee made up of representatives from management, engineering, manufacturing, sales, advertising, service, quality control, insurance, and legal. The policy statement should not commit to more than is realistically attainable since the failure to follow through on a commitment can be used against a manufacturer in a product liability case. Similarly, it is important that the product safety officer or committee have authority to make major decisions or at least to make recommendations directly to top management. Nothing can be more devastating in a product liability case than proof that the plaintiff s injuries were caused by a product problem that resulted from a failure to follow a reasonable safety recommendation. The product safety officer or committee also should have safety-related authority to: (1) Review product designs and the design process; (2) Review product quality control procedures and practices; (3) Review product warnings, instructions and labels; (4) Review product warranties, disclaimers of warranties, indemnities, and related documents and consult with company counsel in connection with these items; (5) Review accident and warranty reports, and other data for evidence of safety-related problems; (6) Review advertising and promotional material for accuracy and consistency with product warnings and instructions, and with product performance; (7) Review document retention programs to ensure the retention of documents that are needed to defend products liability actions; (8) Conduct or supervise product safety reviews and audits to determine whether the company s policies and procedures are being carried out; and (9) Develop programs and seminars to educate company personnel about product liability issues and developments. Management commitment checklist. The review of management s visible commitment to product safety should include the following topics: (1) Policy statement. Has management distributed to all employees a product safety policy statement? Does the policy statement accurately describe the manner in which the company s safety function is organized? (2) Safety officer or committee. Has the company designated a product safety officer or safety committee? (a) (b) Are the functions and responsibilities of the product safety officer or committee spelled out in sufficient detail? Has the product safety officer/committee been integrated into the company s decision making process so that the officer or committee has access to the company s activities that can affect product safety as well as to its top management? 11

14 (c) Does the product safety officer/committee maintain adequate records that demonstrate responsiveness to safety concerns, willingness of the company to follow safety recommendations, and thoughtful consideration of all safety recommendations, including those that are rejected by the product safety officer/committee? C. Product design process Legal background. Products liability law imposes liability on a manufacturer for injuries caused by defects in the design of its products. In a design defect case, the injured plaintiff does not claim the product that injured him differed in any way from units of the same product sold by the manufacturer to others. Typically, the manufacturer is charged not with inadvertently producing a flawed product, but with intentionally selecting a defective design. These cases can be particularly dangerous to a manufacturer since the finding of a defect can mean condemnation of the entire product line. Under either the consumer expectation test or the risk-benefit test (which are described below), the courts usually will look at a broad range of factors in a design defect case including: government regulations and standards; industry standards and custom; the state of the art; alternative designs; the utility, benefits, costs, risks, and effectiveness of the chosen design and the needs, expectations and sophistication of the users of the product; special risks created by the environment in which the product is used; the manufacturer s internal design, marketing, and management documents; advertising materials; patent applications; lobbying activities with respect to government standards, rules and regulations; cost-benefit analysis; evidence of similar accidents; evidence of the absence of similar accidents; reports of government safety agencies; evidence of tests and experiments and the availability of safety devices. Design process. An ideal design process is one in which all the significant hazards inherent in the uses and foreseeable misuses of the product have been identified and either designed out of the product or made the subject of a project warning. Whether a product has been designed to meet this goal is a question that involves mainly engineering and technical rather than legal judgments, and it is not the purpose of the proposed review to challenge the design of any product. Rather, the proposed review will focus on whether the design process took into account the principal factors a court would look at in determining whether a product is unreasonably dangerous because of its design. Design process review checklist. With those goals in mind, the review should seek to determine whether the following items were covered in the design process; his: (1) The customer or user. Who is the ultimate customer or user of the product and what are (a) (b) (c) (d) needs; safety expectations; uses of the product; and foreseeable misuses of the product is the customer a sophisticated user and are the customer s employees sophisticated users? (2) Environment of use. Has the environment in which the product is to be used been identified? 12

15 (3) Hazard identification. Has the company attempted to identify and to characterize, in terms of severity, the hazards arising from the uses and foreseeable misuses of the product (including hazards in packaging, transporting and disposing of the product after use) within its environment of use or has it relied on the hazards identified by a third party? (a) (b) (c) (d) If the company has performed its own hazards identification, has a record of that analysis been retained; was the analysis performed in accordance with such formal analytical techniques as Hazards Analysis, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, or Fault Tree Analysis; and has the analysis been updated in light of scientific advances and the accident/litigation history of the product? If the company has relied on the hazards identified by third parties, has a record of that analysis been retained and has it been updated in light of scientific advances and the accident/litigation history of the products? Is the hazard open, obvious and commonly known? Has the company documented the steps it has taken (e.g., design modifications, warnings, etc.) to minimize the identified hazards? (4) Applicable regulations and standards. Has the product been designed to comply with (or exceed) all applicable federal, state and local codes and regulations, industry standards and customs, and the company s own design standards and criteria? Have these codes, regulations, standards and customs been identified and does the company update them in light of current developments? (5) Earlier designs. Were earlier versions of the same product and their hazards identified and analyzed? (6) Alternative designs. Were alternative designs or approaches identified and analyzed in terms of utility, cost, safety, and feasibility? (7) State of the art. Was the product designed to a recognized state-of-the-art standard? (8) Testing. Was the product tested at appropriate stages in the design process? (9) Design reviews. Was the product design subjected to preliminary, intermediate and final design reviews that affected its safety characteristics? (10) Risk reduction measures. If the hazard cannot be designed out of the product, has the company considered additional safety precautions or devices such as guards, warning lights, automatic cut-off switches, or protective cages that will reduce the risk of harm? (11) Safety Devices. Does the company sell any safety devices as optional equipment? (a) (b) Has consideration been given to making the optional equipment standard? Does the company maintain records that establish that the optional equipment was recommended by the company and was unequivocally rejected by the customer, who was fully informed of the risks of using the product without the safety device? 13

16 D. Manufacturing process Legal background. A product manufacturer can be liable for injuries caused by a defect or flaw in the manufacture of the product. A manufacturing defect is determined by comparing the product as manufactured with the manufacturer s own designs and specifications. If the plaintiff is injured because the product did not comply with these designs and specification, the manufacturer is strictly liable, regardless of the degree of care it exercised in making the product. The key to avoiding liability for manufacturing defects is to establish and maintain a reliable quality control program. Not only will such a program increase the probability that the product is manufactured in accordance with the manufacturer s designs and standards, but evidence of the program ordinarily will be admissible to show the improbability that the product was defective when it left the manufacturer s possession and the probability that the alleged defect was introduced in the postmanufacturing stage of the product s life cycle. Quality control checklist. Because the adequacy of a quality control program largely involves technical and engineering judgments rather than legal judgments, the quality control inquiry is limited to the following topics: (1) Documented program. Can the company establish by documentary evidence that it has a quality control program which is consistent with sound engineering principles and with programs generally used in its industry, and that it follows this program? (2) Reclaiming product. Do procedures exist for stopping the production line and for reclaiming the product from the channels of distribution when a manufacturing defect is discovered? (3) Suppliers. Does the quality control program focus not only on in-house production, but also on products bought from suppliers of raw materials and components? (a) (b) (c) (d) Do procedures exist for inspecting and rejecting inferior material from suppliers? Do purchase orders and sales contracts contain warranties, hold harmless and indemnification provisions sufficient to protect the company from liability for defects in its suppliers products? Does the company routinely sign purchase orders from its suppliers without reviewing the usual terms of sale provisions printed on the documentation or does it refer these provisions to counsel or seek to renegotiate these terms? Have suppliers provided proof of adequate insurance and have they named the company as an additional insured? Are suppliers certificates of insurance and the vendor s endorsement reviewed? (4) Procedure inspections and tests. Are procedures (including inspections and tests) in place to insure that products are manufactured according to relevant specifications? (a) (b) Are records kept that reflect the carrying out of the required inspections and tests? Are service, warranty and field reports routinely reviewed for evidence of quality control problems? 14

17 (5) Deviations. Is the authority to deviate from design specifications clearly spelled out in writing and are all such deviations fully documented? E. Warnings and instructions Legal background. Product liability law imposes on the product manufacturer a duty to warn of risks inherent in its product if the manufacturer knew or should have known of these risks. In a few cases, the courts have suggested that the duty to warn is so strict that it includes a duty to warn of risks that were unknown and scientifically unknowable at the time the product was manufactured. Many courts recognize that a product manufacturer has no duty to warn a user of the product who is fully aware of its danger. This knowledgeable user exception is usually applied to professionals or those with special knowledge, training, experience, or expertise. The exception does not apply to laypersons with limited familiarity with the product. The user s knowledge must be specific, not general, and equal to that of the manufacturer. Also, there is a risk that a court would not apply the knowledgeable user exception if the purchaser of a company s product is a knowledgeable purchaser but its employees, who actually use the product, are unskilled workers who have no specific familiarity with the product. Some, but not all, courts relieve a manufacturer of a duty to warn when the risk or danger is open, obvious or commonly known. Also, a manufacturer has no duty to warn the product user of inconsequential risks, particularly if the injury can only arise from idiosyncratic reactions to the product. The duty to warn extends to risks created by intended uses as well as foreseeable misuses of the product. Many courts have vested the product manufacturer with the powers of a clairvoyant in determining whether a misuse of its product was foreseeable. The duty to warn also extends beyond the immediate purchaser of the product to third parties who are foreseeable users (and misusers) of the product. It may also extend to the employees and customers of the purchaser, particularly when the manufacturer has effective means of communicating the warning to the ultimate user of the product and has reason to believe that its immediate customer will not pass on the warning to the ultimate user. For example, some courts have held that manufacturers of bulk chemicals can be liable for failure to warn the ultimate user of their product when the manufacturer s customers have repackaged the product in smaller containers without including a warning similar to that supplied by the manufacturer. In deciding whether a warning passes muster under the law of product liability, the courts have looked at the following factors: (1) Is the warning intense enough to convey the gravity of the harm? (2) Does one part of the warning dilute another part? (3) Has the warning been communicated in a manner designed to reach the person to whom it is directed? If possible, has the warning been permanently affixed to the product and if there is reason to believe that the users do not read English or are illiterate, has the warning been expressed in multiple languages or by pictures and symbols? (4) Do the product s physical characteristics lull a user into a false sense that the product is safe (e.g., if a poisonous, colorless liquid is contained in a clear bottle so that the product looks like water, it may create a risk of injury under some circumstances that cannot be overcome by any written or symbolic warning)? (5) Is the warning nullified by overpromotion of the safety aspects of the product or is it undercut by advertising or promotional material? 15

18 (6) Is the warning clear, specific, unambiguous and conspicuous? (7) Does the warning list remedies or antidotes for adverse reactions? Moreover, in some cases, an adequate warning of the risks inherent in the use of the product may not be sufficient in the absence of instructions for the safe use of the product. The content of the warning may be prescribed by federal or state law which may set only a minimum standard that may not satisfy the requirements of the applicable products liability law. Proposed review of warnings. The review of product warnings may be the most important aspect of the proposed safety review program. Cases based on a failure to warn are becoming increasingly popular with plaintiff s lawyers, and it has been estimated that eighty percent of plaintiff s recoveries in the future will result from inadequate warnings. The drafting of a legally sufficient warning often is a difficult task that requires a knowledge of the applicable case law and statutory authorities and a practical, common sense understanding of the needs of the product seller, customer, and user. For example, if the warning is too draconian, it may undermine the commercial viability of the product or be construed as an admission that the product is defective or dangerous. But if the warning is too weak, it may fail to influence the behavior of the user, and the seller may find itself without a defense in a products liability case. Warnings and instructions checklist. The review of warnings should cover the following topics: (1) The customer or user. Who is the ultimate customer or user of the product and what are his needs, safety expectations, uses of the product, and foreseeable misuses of the product? Are the customers and his employees sophisticated users? (2) Environment of use. Has the environment in which the product is to be used been identified? (3) Hazard identification. Have the hazards inherent in the uses and foreseeable misuses of the product been identified and characterized in terms of severity, and are some or all of these hazards open, obvious and commonly known? (4) Hazard reduction. Have the hazards been reduced to the extent practicable through the design of the product? (5) Description of hazard. Does the warning adequately describe the nature of the risk: (a) (b) (c) (d) Is the warning sufficiently intense to describe the severity of the danger, i.e., is the intensity level (DANGER! WARNING! CAUTION!) appropriate for the possible consequences? Does the warning describe, with adequate specificity, the nature of the risk so that the user knows what consequences to expect if he fails to heed the warning (e.g., will cause death or serious bodily injury, will cause severe eye burns, etc.)? Is the warning internally consistent? Are there special risks concerning the disposal of the product or its packaging that the customer should be warned about? 16

19 (e) (f) Does the warning label overload the senses with descriptions of trivial or farfetched risks? Is the description of the risk undercut by product promotional literature and advertising, and should the warning be included in such materials? (6) Avoidance of hazard. Does the warning sufficiently describe how to avoid the risk (e.g., turn off all pilot lights, wear safety glasses, etc.)? (7) Location of warning. Is the warning permanently affixed to the product or its container to the extent practicable? If the customer transfers the product to another container, has the customer been supplied with warning labels for the new container? (8) Conspicuousness. Does the warning stand out from other written matter on the label (e.g., highlighted, in bold capitals, in a bright color, etc.)? (9) Intermediate handlers of product. If the product changes form, is combined with other products, or is repackaged between the time it leaves the manufacturer s possession and the time it is used by the ultimate consumer, is the original warning still appropriate, is it passed on by the intermediate handlers of the product, and, if not, is there a feasible way that it could be passed on? (a) If it is not feasible for the manufacturer to give the warning directly to the ultimate user, is the warning given to the person in the best position to convey the warning to the ultimate user? (10) Government regulations and private standards. Is the warning in compliance with government labeling and other requirements and with industry labeling standards? (11) Multiple languages and symbols. Are there characteristics of the product or its users that dictate the use of multiple languages or pictorial or symbolic warnings (e.g., skull and cross bones) or changes in the physical characteristics of the product to make the danger more obvious (e.g., adding an odorizer or dye to the product)? (12) Instructions. Are instructions for the safe use of the product provided to customers and users of the product? (a) (b) Do these instructions repeat the warnings? Are the warnings cross-referenced to the instructions? (13) Antidote. Does (should) the warning describe an antidote for those who do not heed the warning? (14) Updating. Is the warning updated periodically in light of new scientific information, changes in the product, and other developments? Is the process by which updating is considered documented? (15) Competitor s warnings. Do others who manufacture or sell the same product (including the company s subsidiaries) provide more extensive or (arguably) better warnings and instructions? (16) Reviews. Are warnings and instructions reviewed by engineering, marketing, and legal personnel? 17

20 (17) Litigation history. Has a similar warning been upheld or criticized by a court? (18) Records. Are records of the labeling history of the product maintained, including the reasons for rejecting more stringent warnings? F. Post-sale phase Legal background. Products liability and statutory law impose on product manufacturers certain post-sale obligations to issue new or revised warnings or to recall a defective product. A post-sale duty to warn may arise: (1) when a danger that was unknown at the time of sale is discovered at a later time; or (2) when a misuse of a product that was unforeseeable at the time the product was sold becomes known and thus foreseeable at a later time. Also, at least one court has suggested that under certain circumstances a manufacturer may have a duty to notify customers of safety-related changes in the state of the art, such as the development of a more effective safety device for the product. A product manufacturer who discovers post-sale that it has sold a defective product may not be able to absolve itself from future liability by issuing a warning. It may also be required to offer free repairs, to communicate that offer in time to prevent an accident, and to warn of the risks and dangers involved in using the unrepaired product. Special rules created by statutes govern the recall of some products, such as consumer products, drugs, motor vehicles, and boats. Plaintiffs in product liability actions often will pursue evidence of post-sale accidents. Also, evidence of the absence of such accidents can be extremely helpful in defending against allegations that the product is defective. Post-sale obligations checklist. The review of post-sale procedures should consider the following areas: (1) Monitoring. Are warranty claims, lawsuits, service and maintenance reports, customer complaints, and government and industry statistics and literature monitored for evidence of possible product defects? (2) Accident reporting and investigation. Has the company established satisfactory accident reporting and investigation procedures? (a) (b) Is the company s accident reporting and investigating procedure designed to insure that the absence of any evidence of a similar accident can be established in a product liability action in accordance with the strict rules of evidence? Are all the reports of accidents involving the company s product investigated to determine whether they are, in fact, similar and whether they are caused by a defect or hazard in the product or by some other cause not related to the condition of the product at the time it was distributed? (3) Post-sale procedures. Has the company established procedures for determining whether the discovery of post-sale product safety problems should or must be the subject of a warning or a mandatory or voluntary recall program? 18

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